Introduction to Ajna Chakra
Ajna = command

This information has been collected from many books and Web sites, and from my own knowledge and experience from teaching Yoga for more than 35 years. It will help you to understand the meaning of Chakras and why it is important to know about them.

Here we begin to travel to the higher areas of the physical body. It is here that we begin to experience formless consciousness, ESP, intuitive senses, feeling and touching and seeing beyond the five senses. This is the hard drive of the physical body, the spiritual eye. It is often called The Third Eye. Today it is easy for anyone to imagine a computer's hard drive and its secret code for storing and distributing everything in what seems no time at all. This Chakra is the same. It works to restore our soul, constantly.

Only one to go after this! Now we are reaching higher to soon rise to the crown and come out through the top of the head. This Chakra is in the realm of issues that surround everything from discipline, emotional maturity, wisdom, judgment (or the wonderful lack of judging others to be more concise). When this is blocked, there is fear of truth, distraction from one's own power, confusion and sometimes a total misunderstanding of life as a whole. There is more to come in Part 3 (see below) about blockages and how to unblock this Chakra.

According to Sri Yukteswar, this Chakra is located in the medulla oblongata, that soft spot in the back of your head, where the neck begins (at least for feeling it). This is the part of the brain stem that is continuous with the pons above (a pathway for nerves that run from the cerebrum to the cerebellum) and the spinal cord below.

 

Anatomical Description of Chakra Location

In the middle of the brain behind the brow, between the eyebrows and in. It expands itself all around the head. It is located along the Sushumni nadi that extends from the Perineal (the lower or yin polarity) to the Crown (the upper or yang polarity), pituitary gland, forehead at the root of the nose. It nourishes thyroid, lower brain, left eye, ears, nose, nervous system, head and brain.

To get a better idea of this, think of a Cobra snake with its large head and long body. This is precisely what our brain looks like on top of what appears to be a long snake (the spinal cord). The medulla is the lowest part of the brain. It resembles the spinal cord, which is actually a continuation of it, but it is larger in diameter and more complex. It contains many important reflex centers, controlling such vital processes as breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure. It is a relay center for fibers connecting the higher and lower centers. Nearly all the fibers passing through the medulla en route to or from the brain cross from one side to the other in the medulla. I find this very interesting when one stops to think about how the Ida and Pingala cross within the body. This crossing becomes evident when there is an injury to the right side of the brain and it shows up as paralysis on the left side of the body.

 

Other Anatomical Areas Affected

Pineal gland, brain, neurological system, nervous system, eyes, ears, nose, center of the forehead, blood supply to the head, scalp, bones of the face, base of the skull (occiput), eyes, ears and eustachian tubes, nose, sinuses (sinusitis when blocked) and forehead, mouth and tongue, vocal chords, tonsils, neck muscles, shoulders, esophagus, heart and coronary arteries, bronchial tubes and lungs, liver, diaphragm, stomach, pancreas, spleen, small intestines, colon.

The pineal gland is a small conical structure attached by a stalk to the posterior wall of the third ventricle in the brain. There are six smaller Chakras that are associated with this that are located in a line straight up from The Third Eye, up the middle of the forehead. This eye opens as it develops, and each has its own specific purpose.

The pineal gland is shaped like a pinecone. (Secret: It's larger in women and it is considered the center of the 6th sense—Women's Intuition!)

If you meditate and do the exercises given for this chakra, you can begin to open the pineal gland to get more acquainted with yourself. You will discover that you have more compassion and tolerance.

According to Yogananda, “the pituitary gland secretes a yellowish fluid, and the Pineal gland secretes a white fluid. When the two meet, there is a flash of light so bright this Chakra is opened. Here then, the two fluids, known in the Bible as 'the land of Milk and Honey,' begin to flow down the pancreatic nerve (The river Jordan) to the third center, which is known as the manger (where Christ consciousness is born within you).”

One could also describe this fluid as phosphorescence with a luminous appearance. Many people see this light when they are deep in meditation with the Third eye. It's a glorious vision to have.

 

Personal Story

I mentioned in the TM section of the Meditation series, about the time I took my mother to Maharishi's TM-center in California in 1983. I took there because it would help to lower her high blood pressure. I had already received my mantra before this. She came home that night and began to talk about her experience. She said, “I must be doing something wrong. Each time I close my eyes and say the mantra I was given, there is a big yellow eye in between my eyebrows.”

Trying not to react with too much amazement, I asked her how that felt. She said, “Wonderful! It's very soothing to my entire nervous system. I can feel that it is lowering my blood pressure. But am I supposed to be seeing a yellow eye?” Laughing with joy, I explained how most people spend their lives trying to see with their Third Eye and never do. It did help her high blood pressure, too. She had a whopping 290 over 190 at the time. The doctor couldn't believe she was walking and looked normal. It helped my mother. Since then, I have known hundreds of people who have been helped through meditation.

If you have high blood pressure or heart trouble, do yourself a big favor and go to a Transcendental Meditation center (they are all over the world) and learn how to practice this very simple 20-minute meditation twice a day with your own personal mantra given to you. You won't regret it. Conscious Repetition: It cannot hurt you, and it might even help you!